Recovered memory therapy
Recovered memory therapy (RMT) is a term coined ca. 1992-1993 by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) to describe to describe methods of psychotherapy that they argued were of questionable scientific legitimacy, and which were additionally likely to create "false memories" of childhood sexual abuse. ; page 56. The term "recovered memory therapy" is little-used by mainstream mental health experts, does not describe a unified formal psychotheraputic modality, and is not listed in DSM-IV.Whitfield, Charles L.; Joyanna L. Silberg, Paul Jay Fink (2001). Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors, 56, Haworth Press. History of use Since the late 1800s, mainstream medical experts have noted that memory loss is sometimes associated with trauma. However, the etiology, terminology and other particulars of such memory loss -- including whether or not such memories can in fact be forgotten and then recovered with any accuracy -- have been debated. Some experts argue that the entire concept of forgotten or repressed traumatic memory is dubiousCritics of recovered memory therapy, like Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters (Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, And Sexual Hysteria), view the practice of "recovering" memories as fraudulent and dangerous. They base this assertion on several claims: * Traumatic experiences which obviously have happened, such as war time experiences, are not "repressed"—they are either forgotten or remembered clearly in spite of attempts to suppress them. * The "memories" recovered in RMT are highly detailed. According to RMT literature, the human brain stores very vivid memories which can be recalled in detail, like a video tape. This belief contradicts virtually all research on the way memories work. * The patient is given very extensive lists of "symptoms" including sleeplessness, headaches, the feeling of being different from others etc. If several of these symptoms are found, the therapist suggests to the patient that they were probably sexually abused. If the patient rejects this suggestion, they are "in denial" and require more extensive therapy. This is a form of catch-22. * During the questioning, patients are openly encouraged to ignore their own feelings and memories and to assume that the abuse has happened. They then explore together with this therapist, over a prolonged period of many months or even years, how the abuse happened. The possibility that the abuse has not happened at all is usually not considered. "Remembering Trauma" by Prof. Richard McNally, Harvard University Press (2003). Prof. McNally summaries the relevant scientific research and concludes that the notion of repressed memory is nothing more than psychiatric "folklore". Nonetheless, a substantial percentage of mainstream mental health experts agree that, in at least some cases, traumatic memories can be forgotten or escape recall from episodic memory, yet later be recalled with reasonable accuracy.Jim Hopper of Harvard University writes, "A substantial body of empirical evidence of amnesia and delayed recall for abuse has existed for years." http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/ The Recovered Memory Project at Brown University has an archive of 101 cases where forgotten memories of sexual abuse were remembered years later, and which were corroborated with verifiable evidence such as court or medical records, or clinical case studies, or confirmed confessions by perpetrators. The best-seller The Courage to Heal, first published in 1988, promotes memory recovery as a form of healing from sexual trauma."Bass and Davis examine very traumatic experiences and offer hope to survivors of these experiences." http://www.division42.org/MembersArea/Nws_Views/articles/Reviews_Books/courage_to_heal.html The term "recovered memory therapy" was coined ca. 1992-1993 by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF), an group that advocates on behalf of those who claim they have falsely been accused of sexual abuse. The FSMF argued that RMT might implant "false memories," by means of questionable therapies such as hypnosis, age regression, drug-assisted interviewing (using substances such as sodium amytal), and guided visualization. While these methods are sometimes practiced by individual therapists, they were not necessarily recognized by the mainstream psychiatric or psychological community. As such, RMT is a loose umbrella term when compared to accepted psychotherapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, which are tested, have strict guidelines, and are accepted by large percentages of the mainstream mental health community. RMT controveries Legal cases In the mid-1990s, Minnesota psychiatrist Diane Bay Humenansky was accused of using hypnosis and other suggestive techniques associated with RMT. Several of her patients accused family memners of abuse that was later found to be false.Gustafson, Paul. Jury awards patient $2.6 million: Verdict finds therapist Humenansky liable in repressed memory trial. Minneapolis St. Paul Tribune, August 1, 1995. Guthrey, M. and Kaplan, T., 2nd Patient Wins Against Psychiatrist: Accusation of planting memories brings multi-million dollar verdict. St. Paul Pioneer Press, Jan. 25, 1996, 4B. In the UK, a woman who said she had falsely accused her father of rape successfully sued the hospital and psychologist who had treated her with what she described as a form of RMT, and was awarded a large settlement.£20,000 payout for woman who falsely accused her father of rape after 'recovered memory' therapy Daily Mail UK 2007 In one case featured on a U.S. Frontline episode, a girl who had had perfect attendance and grades as a teenager claimed, after visiting a therapist, that her family had performed ritualized Satanic sexual abuse on her all through her childhood. After visiting the therapist, this same girl claimed to have developed 26 distinct personalities she said resulted from the abuse. “Divided Memories, Part 1” (Videotape, 120 min.) Frontline. Public Broadcasting Service, aired 4 April 1995. Produced by Ofra Bikel. However, his Frontline episode was criticized on both scientific grounds (for misrepresenting scientific data and consensus), and on grounds of journalistic integrity."A watershed media event in the recovered-memory debate, 'Divided Memories' purported to be a balanced examination of the issue and, to uninformed viewers, seemed to summarize where the matter stands today. In truth, it was a four-hour polemic ... that gave short shrift to confirmed cases of recovered memory. The program spent most of its time skewering fringe therapists." Stanton, Mike. ""U Turn on Memory Lane", Columbia Journalism Review, July/August 1997 Dissociative Identity Disorder RMT in the 1990s coincided with a sharp rise in the occurrence of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID; formerly Multiple Personality Disorder.) Skeptics of recovered memory therapy point out this sharp rise, in what had been considered an extremely rare disorder before 1980, as part of a body of evidence suggesting that the disorder, may be caused by false memories implanted by recovered memory therapy. Some critics have gone so far as to call DID a "passing psychological fad".http://www.religioustolerance.org/mpd_did2.htm Similarly, Joan Acocella writes:Acocella, Joan. Creating Hysteria - Women and Multiple Personality Disorder :"If only for financial reasons, one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of psychotherapy seems to be coming to an end. 'In all but a few years,' writes Paul Mchugh, the director of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, 'we will all look back' on the multiple personality disorder movement 'and be dumbfounded by the gullibility of the public in the late twentieth century and by the power of psychiatric assertions to dissolve common sense.'" Scientific legitimacy Several regulatory or professional organizations have warned mental health professionals against use of questionable RMT methods, and advising that recovered memories of abuse may or may not be genuine, may or may not be verifiable, and must be judged on a case-by-case basis. A 1999 study by Andrews et al.,Andrews, B., Brewin, C., Ochera, J., Morton, J., Bekerian, D., Davies, G., and Mollon, P. (1999). "Characteristics, context and consequences of memory recovery among adults in therapy." British Journal of Psychiatry 175, pp. 141-146. examined 690 patients in the UK who recovered memories of traumatic experience. 65% of patients recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse, while 35% recalled other trauma. Therapists reported that the overwhelming majority of recovered sexual abuse memories were plausible, and that 41% of the abuse cases were confirmed or verified. 78% of patients recovered abuse memories before entering therapy. Some critics have argued that the FMRF coined RMT less from legitimate scientific research, and more to promote an ideological standpoint: *The FMSF described "false memory syndrome" and "recovered memory therapy" as an epidemic or crisis for medicine and law. CriticsDallam, S. J. (2002). "Crisis or Creation: A systematic examination of false memory claims." Journal of Child Sexual Abuse v 9 (3/4), pp. 9-36. Murphy, Wendy J. "Debunking 'false memory' myths in sexual abuse cases:" "...While nobody would argue that memory is perfect, imperfection is hardly enough to merit recognition of a medical syndrome. Indeed, the DSM-IV nowhere recognizes this condition, and no studies or research exists to suggest that anyone suffers from it." responded by noting that "false memory syndrome" was not recognized by the mainstream medical community; was not clearly-defined by the FMSF; did not meet the criteria for a syndrome; was untested; was based on flawed and discredited ideas; and additionally that the FMSF exaggerated the impact of confabulation and other memory errors while minimizing or ignoring contradictory evidence that indicated memory loss can happen after traumatic events. *Charles Whitfield describes RMT as a reactionary construct used by activists affiliated with the False Memory Syndrome Foundation as a way to contest the efficacy of the trauma model of psychopathology, , and has described the "false memory defense" in criminal trials as one of "disinformation".Whitfield CL (2001). "The false memory defense: using disinformation in and out of court." Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 9(3-4):53-78 *An Australian government inquiry of RMT found little support for or use of RMT from health professionals; rather concluding the term was created by for political use. *In October, 2007, Scientific American published an article critical of RMT, which was criticized by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation as erroneous for presenting the idea that there was a coherent method or training for something called 'recovered memory therapy,' and additionally describing RMT as a "straw-man argument." Notes and references See also *Amnesia *Child abuse *Dissociation *Emotion and memory *False memory *Memory inhibition *Post-traumatic stress disorder *Repressed memory Sources Acocella, Joan. Creating Hysteria - Women and Multiple Personality Disorder. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, ©1999. Watters, Richard and Ofshe, Ethan. "Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, And Sexual Hysteria". University of California Press; Reprint edition, 1996. Loftus, Elizabeth and Ketcham, Katherine. "The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse". St. Martin's Griffin, 1st St. Martin's Griffin ed edition, 1996. Category:Memory Category:Psychotherapy